Author's Note

I made some quick edits on this chapter, that being I forgot to describe some of the characters' appearance.

Commander Silverhoof, Leader of the Resistance

Commander Silverhoof stood near the edge of the Everfree Forest, watching the scene before him in Ponyville. The machines had them outnumbered three to one, which was nothing new for him. They’ve faced worse before. Unfortunately, he was running out of ground to retreat to.

Silverhoof remembered the early days of the war, when the Resistance managed to win a few key victories. They were few and far between but he and his men never took them for granted. That was before Sunfall decided it had to upgrade its arsenal. The helicarriers were the first, then came the bombers. They were outgunned and outnumbered, but if there was one advantage they had, it was thinking outside the box.

Right now, he couldn’t think of a possible way to turn things around. His division was limited in supplies while grudgingly he was reminded that HQ was holding onto the good stuff. HQ was based far south from here, relocated after almost everything north of here had been taken by the enemy. The folks in Griffinstone were only faring slightly better, considering the main force of Sunfall’s army was concentrated on the central continent, but mostly it was a stalemate, something Silverhoof would take at the moment.

The son of a pegasus and earth pony, Silverhoof had the strength of his farther and the speed and wings of his mother. Unfortunately, the both of them lost their lives at the beginning of the war. Although the memory still felt fresh to him, he was thankful that at least they were gone, as opposed to the alternative which always made him felt slightly queasy.

The brown and tan pegasus looked to his left as his fellow kin, a navy blue colored pegasus, approached him. “Breeze, how bad is it?” There was rarely any good news these days.

“We lost contact with Bravo and Trotter companies,” Night Breeze said with a slight sigh.

Silverhoof stared at her. “We can’t be getting overrun this quickly.” He then took out a pair of binoculars and scanned the area. “If they knew that, they would’ve done the smart thing and retreated.” The enemy was making a straight shot into Ponyville without trying to flank them. What was going on?

“Sir, if I may say…I know I tend to be the superstitious type but I got a bad feeling we’re dealing with something new entirely,” Breeze said.

Silverhoof sighed. It didn’t surprise him. Everyday there was always something new to face. Guess Sunfall was getting impatient, if AI’s were capable of getting impatient. “Alright, signal the remaining troops that we’re pulling back to the castle. The forest should at least give us some cover.”

“And those carriers?” Breeze asked.

“We don’t have enough anti-air missiles to take them all out so we’ll have to use them wisely. If worst comes to worst, we can use the old sewer passages as a way for escape.”

“Are we already calling this another defeat?” Breeze said glumly.

How was he supposed to respond to that? He was the only reason they were all still there, and everyone agreed with that but morale was at an all-time low and right now a victory would do some good. “Right now, all I’m thinking about is regrouping and coming up with a new plan. When we get inside, make an immediate call to HQ.”

“Yes sir,” Breeze saluted before flying off. Silverhoof grabbed his rifle and took one last look at the former town. Growing up in Hoofington, he knew exactly what life was like in a place like this: quiet and relaxed. But those days were gone and even if this war was won, how they could they possibly start over?

Silverhoof just shook his head slightly before motioning to the other troops that were falling back and started to lead them into the woods.

TS-5453 was currently observing the enemy’s movements, using her infrared to pick up the remaining troops while cloaked inside one of the abandoned houses. There were over a hundred still and they were currently retreating into the Everfree Forest, which proved to be quite the interesting specimen, as least to sentient beings such as her.

So where were they heading? TS-5453 accessed her memory banks. Deep inside the forest was an old castle: The Castle of the Two Sisters. She brought up pictures of the structure and-

Suddenly, her HUD flickered slightly, giving the machine pause. Was that a glitch? Surely that last fight didn’t damage her processors, and her systems check before proved everything was normal. She placed a notice to have that checked out once she returned to HQ.

She did more research. The forest definitely had history, other than the castle itself. Almost a hundred years ago there was an incident where the forest went out of control and almost took out all of Ponyville. That was until the Tree of Harmony-

It happened again. The flickering was definitely noticeable, even to an untrained eye. What was going on? She decided to do a quick manual systems check but everything checked out as normal. She decided to update the notice to a first priority when she got back. For now, she decided she would tail the remaining soldiers, wait until they got into the open once again.

Silverhoof and his troops made haste into the forest. He wanted to make sure they were all covered before the carriers began their bombardment. It was rather sad actually: despite everything, this forest was determined to live. Sure, there was something off about it and honestly, Silverhoof hated the place but there was no reason to blow the place to pieces. Not even this forest could survive the bombardment it was about to receive.

However, even as he was moving along, he felt as if someone was watching him, or rather something. Despite fighting this war for so many years, there were still many things that terrified a hardened pony like him, only because now in this world nightmares were no longer fantasy but mere possibilities. Silverhoof kept his guard; if something was going to ambush them, this would be the place to do so.

However, everything remained still, except for the sound of hoofbeats against the soft ground. They were almost near the old fortress, which was greater than anything Silverhoof had seen in his life. It was unfortunate that such a place with a rich history would ultimately be desecrated.

As they reached the edge of the clearing, he held up a hoof, signaling the troops to stop in their tracks. Silverhoof looked around the area, scanning for any bogies, alive or wired. The night vision goggles he and his fellow ponies wore helped make their way through the woods and also had an infrared setting, although they were practically useless against the enemy except for detecting heat signatures from rockets or engines. As far as he could see, everything was still.

“Commander,” Breeze said softly, trying not to startle him. “I just got word from HQ.”

“Let me guess: they can’t provide any reinforcements at this time,” Silverhoof replied.

“Unfortunately so.” Silverhoof cursed slightly. “Sir, perhaps if we get on a private channel we can contact Fl-”

“That’s Skyla,” Silverhoof quickly interrupted her as he motioned for the others to move on ahead. “You know and she knows we can’t use her real name, that’d make her priority number one with the machines and…well let’s just say I really don’t want to lose her.”

“My apologies sir,” Breeze looked embarrassed.

“She probably won’t be able to help us anyway,” Silverhoof said. “She’s on a small pedestal at the moment and actions like this will only make it smaller.” He then one more glance around. “So, what do we have stationed here?”

“Long-range artillery and anti-air missiles per your orders,” Breeze replied. “We also machine gun posts on the front towers. It wasn’t easy getting that stuff up there.”

“I’m amazed the infrastructure is still holding,” Silverhoof added. The princesses must’ve had one hell of an architect.

“Let’s put it this way sir, if the machines manage to take us out here, it’ll cost them dearly.”

Silverhoof grinned. “I got no issue with that.” He looked behind him towards the woods and as he glanced around, he froze. Only a few meters from the edge of the forest, near the tree top, Silverhoof could’ve sworn he saw something shimmer. It was only there for a second and admittedly if not for the goggles and his keen eyesight (pegasi in general had really good genes) he wouldn’t have even noticed it. He then turned around casually. “Breeze, listen to me carefully and don’t react so suddenly…we have company.”

The way he saw her wings stiffened showed that her heart must’ve skipped a beat or two. “Where sir?” she asked, keeping her body still.

“My eight o’clock, your four, near the edge of the woods.” Silverhoof replied. “Whatever it is, it’s cloaked and probably heavily armed.”

“Shit…you think that’s what took out Bravo and Trotter?”

“No doubt about it…” Silverhoof said as he pretended to stretch and slowly went for his rifle. “Not sure if it can hear us but we can’t signal the others without alerting it so we have to do this quick. You ready?”

“Always,” Night Breeze said as she casually pulled out her pistol.

“On three. One…two…three!” The two of them turned around quickly and opened fire towards the tree line. Silverhoof quickly saw the shimmer again as the machine jumped from the tree only to realize too late it was jumping towards them.

Both Silverhoof and Night Breeze were knocked to the ground as something practically ran over them. Behind him, he saw something spark and soon a figure appeared, its cloaking apparently damaged. The other soldiers reacted swiftly, opening fire at the machine as it quickly thrust up into the air again.

“What the hell is that thing!?” Breeze cried.

“That’s no simple sentry that’s for sure,” Silverhoof as he got up and retrieved his rifle. “Keep shooting it!”

It apparently was the best short-term solution as the machine tried to avoid being hit. However, it wasn’t long before the thing’s wings shifted slightly and it pounced towards the ground skewing three soldiers in one hit.

“Its armor is too tough!” Breeze said as she reloaded.

Too strong for a bullet, Silverhoof thought. However… He then grabbed one of his fellow soldiers. “You know how to use an artillery gun son?”

“I have some experience sir!” the crimson colored unicorn said.

“What’s your name?”

“Private Nox sir!”

“Nox…okay, I need you to get up to that cannon and when I give the signal, we’re gonna blast that metal abomination to pieces!”

“I’ll gladly oblige!” Nox then made his way towards the fortress amid the chaos while Silverhoof gave him cover. Once the machine was high enough, he spotted one of its thrusters and took quick aim. There was a small explosion as the thruster was damaged and the machine crashed into the ground. However, it hardly seemed to slow it down as it got up and started opening fire on the remaining soldiers with what looked like a gun attached to its leg.

“Breeze, I’m going to distract it!” Silverhoof said.

“Are you crazy, that thing will cut you into pieces!” Breeze said.

“Give me a little credit!” Silverhoof looked over and saw that Nox had made his way towards the outer wall where one of the cannons had been placed. After getting a signal from him, Silverhoof took to the air, far above the battle. “Hey! Hey you!” The machine suddenly stopped and looked in his direction, almost as if it looked confused. “Yeah you, you bucket of bolts! Come on, I’m the one you’re looking for right!?”

The machine seemed to pause, almost as if hesitating. Silverhoof knew this was all about timing. If Nox managed to miss, not only would he have wasted a valuable shell, the machine would most likely go after him in retaliation. As if time suddenly slowed down, he saw the machine suddenly fire off its backup thrusters and yelled, “NOW!”

Nox had the cannon aimed right towards Commander Silverhoof, adjusting for gravity and the coriolis effect. As soon as he gave the signal, Nox fired. In that last second, as the machine came towards him, Silverhoof moved vertically to the right. One second later, the round made a direct hit, smashing into the machine and causing it to spiral down towards the trees.

If TS-5453 was able to feel it, she would’ve felt foolish at this moment. She had been outsmarted by the pony and did not even think for a second that it had been a distraction. It was very disappointing.

The blast punched a rather big hole in her armor near her wings, exposing a lot of circuitry. Flashes of red covered her entire HUD, warnings of critical failures of most systems and the impact upon hitting the ground didn’t make things better. Her power source thankfully was undamaged but if she didn’t shut down now, her other systems would be damaged beyond repair.

TS-5453 would not admit it, but it had been a lucky shot. Her armor overall could withstand most weaponry, even artillery shells. However, she wasn’t completely protected all over. The area where her wings were located had a thinner layer, most likely to compensate for the weight issue she would have if her entire body was heavily armored. As she said, a lucky shot indeed.

CPU…………………Damaged

Weapon Systems…………………Disabled

Armor…………………Critically Damaged

Exoskeleton…………………Critically Damaged

Automatic Emergency Shutdown in effect…

In a way, shutting down was like a pony falling asleep, and her system would try to make repairs, similar to the brain and body during REM sleep. However, as she felt herself slip away into darkness, TS-5453 was not only feeling “foolish” and “disappointed”, but also a different sensation, one that ponies would consider “fear”.

I have failed…

“Holy shit…” Breeze said as the commander touched the ground. “That was a hell of a shot!”

“Thank Private Nox for that one,” Silverhoof said, giving a small salute Nox’s way. “There’s no way that thing could’ve shaken off a hit like that.”

Upon finding the machine, he couldn’t have been more right. The shell ripped right through the machine’s left side, leaving a wide hole that exposed wiring. But it wasn’t the damage that stunned the two pegasi.

“Look at it…” Breeze said. “It looks like a-”

“Alicorn, I know,” Silverhoof said. “It’s all about fear tactics. Alicorns were always seen as the most powerful beings in Equestria and what would be more terrifying than an alicorn coming after you?”

“Look at the weaponry on this thing,” Breeze said in amazement. “These are…miniature Vulcan cannons? I didn’t know anything like these existed.”

“Makes sense, otherwise it would be too heavy for this thing,” Silverhoof said, further examining the machine. “Not gonna lie, I think we got lucky.”

“So what now?” Breeze asked. “We might as well scrap it for whatever useful stuff it has.” Silverhoof was quiet for a moment. “Sir, what other choice do we have? If this thing wakes up again, its just gonna go on a killing spree again. This thing has a lot of blood on its hooves!”

“I know…but we’re not going to scrap it, at least not yet,” Silverhoof said. “This thing is intelligent, much more than the regulars and I want to see if it has any information.”

“Like it’ll tell us anything,” Breeze sneered. “Even if it wanted to, its memory banks probably got all scrambled. Sir, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Well Lieutenant, it’s a good thing I outrank you because we’re taking this thing in.” He then waved over two soldiers. “Get this thing inside and put it in a containment field. Even if its weapons are still operational, it won’t be able to break through.”

“Yes sir!” The two earth ponies grabbed the machine and slowly made their way inside.

“So…we’re just going to interrogate it?” Breeze said with disgust. “It’s just gonna call out to its friends anyway.”

“Its ‘friends’ already know we’re here,” Silverhoof said. “I just want information, anything it can give me. And once its served its use Lieutenant, then I personally will blow its circuits out.”